Marmalade, BJP, ‘arhar ki daal’: Rahul-Sonia’s fun year-end video

Everyone craves home-cooked food when they travel abroad for a long time. So does former Congress president Sonia Gandhi. So, what is that comfort food that she craves immediately upon her return to India? It’s rice with arhar ki daal.

Sonia shared her favourite food in a video released on Rahul Gandhi’s YouTube channel on New Year’s Eve. In it, the mother-son duo is seen making orange marmalade following a recipe by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

No “jamming” with BJP

In the video titled “Mum, Memories and Marmalade”, Sonia and Rahul are seen having a light-hearted banter about food.

While preparing the marmalade, Rahul says, “If the BJP people want to get the jam, they can get it too. What do you say, mummy?”

“They will throw it at us,” Sonia quips, making Rahul laugh. He adds, “That’s good. Then we can pick it up again.”

Best and worst

As he goes about preparing the marmalade from scratch by plucking oranges to peeling and slicing them, Rahul says, “This is my sister’s recipe. She found it and improved it. I am only implementing it.”

In the over-five-minute video, Sonia also shares what annoys her about Rahul. “He is stubborn; I am as well. Both of us are stubborn. So, you can understand,” she says.

On what she likes about him, Sonia says, “He is very affectionate, very caring. Especially when I am not well, both Rahul and Priyanka take care of me.”

On who is the best cook in the house, Rahul says it was Sonia’s mother.

“Then she learnt a whole bunch of things from Dadi’s (Indira Gandhi) Kashmiri relatives,” he adds.

Changing taste

Talking about food preferences, Sonia says, “When an Indian person goes abroad — I am not talking of today because there are Indian restaurants everywhere — you cannot adjust to the food in the UK and elsewhere. Similarly, when I came here, it took me time to adjust to the Indian flavours, especially the chilies,” she says.

Sonia says she did not like “hara dhaniya” (cilantro), to which Rahul quips that she likes it a lot now.

She also did not like pickles but now she likes pickles a lot, Rahul says.

“It took me a little time but now I really love it. Whenever I go abroad, the first thing I have to have when I come back is arhar ki daal aur chawal,” Sonia says.

Food and Gandhiji

In the video, Rahul also talks about how Mahatma Gandhi had a particular vision about food and had a set of nutritional ideas.

“I also have nutritional ideas slightly different from Gandhiji’s,” he says.

The video ends with the marmalade ready in jars and tagged “with love from Sonia and Rahul” ready for being sent to friends and family.

(With agency inputs)